And if you’re in California, this may soon be flowing from your kitchen tap.
“This is an exciting development in the state’s ongoing efforts to find innovative solutions to the challenges of extreme weather driven by climate change,” said E. Joaquin Esquivel, the chair of the board.
The new steps will save energy and benefit the environment, Esquivel said, adding that “these regulations ensure that the water produced is not only safe, but purer than many drinking water sources we now rely on.”
Many people are already drinking treated wastewater, Esquivel said, the Associated Press reported. What exists now is wastewater treated by what’s known as “indirect potable reuse,” a process where wastewater is released into natural water bodies, such as reservoirs and rivers, before being turned into drinking water.
Under the new regulations approved Tuesday, a version of which was laid out in a 62-page document published earlier this year, any water being recycled this way must undergo at least three separate treatment processes and will be monitored and further treated for pathogens.
These include the use of an “ozonation process” — the addition of ozone gas, a powerful oxidant disinfectant — to the water, followed by the addition of biologically activated carbon to the water, according to the document. The water will then undergo a “reverse osmosis” process, which physically removes contaminants from water, and an advanced oxidation process, in which chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide or chlorine are added to clean the water.
The new policy does not mandate water companies to distribute water via direct potable reuse, but allows them to so, in a move that could help conserve scarce resources and reduce the amount of waste released into seas and natural waterways.
California recently spent more than three years in drought, amid heat waves and record wildfires. To deal with the growing issue of limited water supplies, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) released new proposals for water recycling targets last year, which are set to cost $27 billion by 2040, according to the AP. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water for nearly half the state’s 39 million residents, has already begun construction on a major water recycling project, the AP reported.
The idea of turning waste into drinking water is not new. Windhoek, the capital of Namibia — one of the driest countries in Africa — became the first city in the world to introduce wastewater recycling more than 30 years ago, according to the city’s plant.
Singapore has installed an extensive filtration system that can treat nearly 238 million gallons of water a day, enough to fill 350 Olympic swimming pools. Most of it goes toward industrial operations and for cooling systems, but part of it is mixed into the city-state’s drinking water.
California — where, in the 1990s, similar proposals were derided as “toilet to tap” — is also not the only U.S. state using these technologies, as communities gradually warm up to ideas that once sparked outrage.
Texas began operating its first direct potable reuse facility in 2013, while Colorado introduced guidelines for the use of wastewater for drinking earlier this year.
In Britain — which has faced droughts and record temperatures, and where residents opposed similar plans in 2013 — the head of the country’s environment agency said last year that people needed to become “less squeamish” about the concept.